Abstract
This paper examines the potential of Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) as a method for developing study skills among engineering and technology students at the tertiary level. The article discusses the importance of study skills in English language education, outlines the major categories of study skills relevant to tertiary learners, and argues that CALL provides an effective, learner-centred environment for developing receptive skills such as listening, reading, note-taking, and reference skills. While acknowledging the limitations of CALL programmes, the paper concludes that the benefits of computer-integrated language learning outweigh its drawbacks and that innovative teachers can harness CALL to create awareness of the importance of study skills.
Keywords: CALL, computer assisted language learning, study skills, engineering students, tertiary education, English language teaching, learner autonomy
Introduction
Computers have emerged as fascinating technological tools in the educational arena. Their use in classrooms as a tool for teaching holds a great significance for language learning: using computers in language learning can go a long way in developing study skills in learners of engineering and technology at the tertiary level.
Every learner is an individual with different needs and abilities of learning a language. Traditional methods of teaching a language placed the teacher in the role of a transmitter of knowledge while learners were seen as passive recipients of this knowledge. With the advent of the communicative method of language teaching, the focus in the classroom shifted from the teacher to the learner. Current trends in the field of English Language Teaching focus on learner autonomy, learner involvement, learner-generated syllabi, creation of relaxed atmosphere for learning, and training to relate to need-based learning. As a result, the concept of individualized instruction is increasingly gaining importance.
The Importance of Study Skills
In a sense, Study Skills are doing with getting information from any subject from the relevant sources of knowledge. The main sources of information for a learner are: a) books, b) classroom lectures, and c) the world at large. Learners have to internalise the information provided by these sources in the most efficient way in order to retain and retrieve it when necessary.
When it comes to training in learners, they receive study skills in colleges at tertiary level rather inadequately; instead they are made to receive dense information in a short time. Due to their inability to assimilate the input they receive in various subjects, a sense of insecurity grips their minds. What is required is not learning long texts by rote, but developing an ability to take down notes in the classroom.
In this cyber age where most of the academic activities are computer directed, the study skills particularly those related to receptive skills can be effectively developed using Computer Assisted Language Learning method. The receptive skills—mainly listening and reading—can be commonly addressed by CALL programmes. Hence, study skills that fall in the category of receptive skills can also be developed using the CALL method.
Study Skills and CALL
The term “Study Skills” is a general term which encompasses a wide variety of traits, associated with personal growth and development ranging from attitudes to behaviours. Study Skills are skills acquired for the purpose of self-development or for a good career. On the academic front, new learning styles, networking with other students, acquiring communication skills, ability to listen to lectures with concentration, reading a book and taking notes, and participating in classroom activities are some of the study skills.
Study Skills also include reading academic texts efficiently and effectively; taking notes from lectures and books; doing basic research; using library or computer-based resources; writing academic papers; taking part in discussions; presenting papers; managing study time and preparing for examinations.
Note Taking
Note taking is another Study Skill which has to be necessarily developed in students. In order to inculcate this skill of note taking, students can be trained to use CALL as a technique of language learning. When it comes to taking down notes while listening, a worksheet can be given and students can be asked to listen to an audio text either from a CALL material or from an audio-text. The worksheet can have a gap-filling task wherein the students while listening to the text can fill up the gaps by using relevant information from the listened text.
Computers and Language Learning
Computers and language learning are closely inter-related and the judicious integration of both can enable students to organise and process their knowledge at the touch of keyboard button. This innovative approach to language learning, which is a variation from the conventional classroom-based-instruction, will definitely yield exciting and rewarding results in language teaching.
The advantages of a CALL classroom include: Computer Assisted Language Learning enhances the motivation level of students; teachers can customise any CALL program to the syllabus or course design; computers are useful in group activities as well as in imparting individualised instruction; there are no limitations with regard to practice-sessions or time; students can have as many practice-sessions as they wish, repeat the tasks any number of times; it has a powerful self-access facility and gives immense scope for self-learning; and computers maximize learning opportunities for their students.
CALL programmes besides helping the learner to learn a foreign language or a second language, also provides some computer literacy which is becoming essential in a technological era, and could be of great help in the future training and career prospects. CALL programmes provide the information requested in a very short time, almost instantaneously.
Limitations
The computer is a means of communication between the programmer and the user. However in this analogy, the author and the programmer do not mostly share similar concerns. While the author is bound to be a subject expert, the programmer is mostly a technician. This gap between the author and the programmer is responsible for inappropriate lesson content, poor documentation, errors in format and content, improper feedback, etc. found in some CALL materials. Also, in most of the software packages, there is little chance for the teacher to add or modify the existing programmes.
But these limitations or problems should be seen in the backdrop of a development stage of computerisation. The rapidity with which computer integrated activities and taking place in the academic sphere shows that the drawbacks found in the CALL methods are only temporary.
Conclusion
The language teacher, who has the prime objective to develop study skills in learners, seeks to make an effective use of the computer-assisted language learning method. An analysis of the methods discussed so far leads the researcher to conclude that it is ultimately the teacher who has to be more innovative, more resourceful, and more thoughtful to create awareness in students about the importance of the study skills in English and to provide opportunities to practice the language by using CALL. Computers make excellent teaching tools, especially in teaching languages in any aspect. The major benefits offered by computer in enhancing language acquisition apparently outweigh its limitations.